I searched and only found a few older threads. I thought grain free was the way to go but now I'm not sure. There are so many foods out there I'm lost. I switched our dog from Hill's (that's what the rescue had her on) to Taste of the Wild High Prairie Grain Free. She seemed to be okay with it but still pooping like 5X a day and often somewhat soft. I just noticed as the weather warms (above 75ish) she is very tired and panting a lot even on fairly shorter walks. She hasn't got the energy she had a few months ago. Looking for reasonable priced options. Like $50/28 lbs bags or so.

She is 70% American Pit Bull Terrier, 30% Boxer. About 1 year 9 months.

Here's a pic (if it works, imgur seems to have changed things)...

She looks like a young version of Strafie.



My dogs get Purina One dry food along with a little meat like pork loin, chicken thighs, an egg, or if I have none of them a couple spoon fulls of Purina One can food. I keep some canned food around in case I'm out of meat but to be honest fresh pork and chicken is often cheaper than can food and has to be better for them because they *love* it!

TractorSupply - 4Health
That's what we give our dog & 2 cats.

After discussions twice with different vets about grain-free, I've concluded that it isn't advisable.

The research shows a clear correlation between grain-free and a heart problem. Putting the dog back on a food containing grains allows them to heal. The initial hypothesis was that the grain-free was missing Taurine, and as a result you'll see Taurine as an ingredient in many of the grain-free foods.

However, other studies have found no Taurine deficiency in dogs who still get the heart problem.

My conclusion is that some grain is needed, and Taurine supplementation is not an alternative to grain.

Our dog is a 9 yr old Sheep Dog with a somewhat sensitive stomach. We've tried 4 or 5 brands at this point. She does well on Purina Pro Plan, though jmho it isn't the most natural food. Right now she's on Arcana Classics Beef and Barley. She poops 3x/day which is mostly on us because we've gotten her used to 3 walks/day.

Raw food is crazy expensive, and is grain-free, but it seems to me to be a very natural healthy formulation other than no grains. Basically it is lightly cooked meat and veges, produced locally. If your budget can sustain it, you could supplement it with something with grains.

Our dog's poops were small and solid on the raw food. We just couldn't justify the $$.

I am a solid avoider of wheat in dog food.

We feed our fur-brats NutriSource dog and cat food and they are doing very well on it.

My other dog, not Strafie, has a delicate stomach and sometimes won't eat for a day or so. When that occurs I mix in some rice and a couple spoon fulls of can pumpkin, Strafie gets it too. This was suggested 13 years ago when Sophie was 6 months old and that got her system back on track.

https://www.orijenpetfoods.com/en-US/homepage

this is the brand I feed

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FenderBender,

We feed Fromm Adult Gold (black bag) for our German Shorthair and Freshpet small breed for our picky Yorkie. We have had very good luck with feeding Fromm

We recently adopted a (now) 17 month old Dutch shepherd. The recommendation we got was to feed Skoki. It’s not as widely available as a brand like Taste of the Wild, but there are two places that sell it in Cheyenne, population 60k, so it’s out there. It’s highly rated (5 stars, Dog Food Advisor), the grains in it are oats and rice, and we were pleasantly surprised that it’s considerably less expensive than the Fromm grain free we fed our GSD.

I'm surprised I'm getting a lot of recommendations for Purina Pro Plan. I assumed that was garbage food, but a close relative is a vet and she just told us to use that also. I'll look into some of the other brands you guys recommended. 4Health is basically the same as Taste of the Wild (both made by Diamond and almost the same ingredients).

Orijen is cost prohibitive. I'd make my own dog food before I spent that much.

I have all but given up on feeding my Dogs commercial dog food. The expense is way out of line and the quality no matter what you pay is questionable.

We have two male mutts now,They were found together in the woods. One was chipped and fixed, the other was not. The Vet suggested that they were both less than one year old. When contacted the owner of the chipped dog (Beagle/Jack Russel) did not want him back, both med. sized, one is very similar to a Belgian Sheppard and the other between a Beagle and a Jack Russel. Both VERY active dogs,meaning high energy.
I feed them Pork kidneys and a bit of pork or beef liver and meat left overs from my dinner, usually pork or chicken. The Pork and liver is cooked slightly.
I also offer them a bowl of Nutrish ( Rachael Ray) beef,pea,and rice dry food for them to snack on day or night. One large bowl will sit for several days before they finish it. I also feed some of that to my Blue and gold macaw Parrot along with his varied variety of diet of fruits and veggies and meat.
The Nutrish dry food seem to fill the spot for nutrition and cost.
We have feed this diet to them for over a year now and they seem very healthy

Talk to your Vet. We've adopted several Shelter Cats over the years and one or another of the Hills dry foods works for them, currently using either Metabolic or W/D. They're both "prescription" in that you can only get them from the Vet, but they cleared up the diarrhea which seems rampant at our shelter.

They're available in canine and feline varieties.

Natures Balance "LTD"

My greyhounds ate this for +20 years

quote:

4Health is basically the same as Taste of the Wild (both made by Diamond and almost the same ingredients).

Our Ava has done well on Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice after trying several more expensive brands.

Another vote for 4Health.
Diamond foods makes it under contract for them and it's also the higher end Costco food.
They have several varieties. We use the Salmon and Sweet potato version.
One of our dogs had some skin issues on Pro Plan years ago and we switched and it cleared that up.

We feed our two Purina Pro Plan. It's what our vet recommended, and it is also what we have fed our dogs for years.

we have struggled with this for our dogs. current favorite is earthborn coastal catch.

Overall…I’d go with the breeder in your case.

No grain free.

Don’t buy the hype (figuratively and literally) about the “high protein dogs are wolves” stuff. Elevated proteins just stress out their kidneys sooner. If your dog is prone to kidney disease this is bad practice.

1)Hills science diet. Most consistent, IMO, across the brand (amongst all brands) for appropriate calcium/phosphorus levels.

*Adult Skin and Coat (includes glucosamine and chondroitin) is what we feed.

*Adult Chicken and Barley (does not include G&C but has great nutrient levels meeting or exceeding recommended levels by small animal vet nutritional literature)

These are my two favorites in the brand.



2)Purina (and, surprisingly, not necessarily Pro Plan). Some of the grocery store Purina lines have better nutrient levels (e.g., calcium/phosphorus, etc) than Pro Plan. Pick whichever one has the lowest levels of calcium/phosphorus…good, quick indicators of how clean the source proteins are.

Most dog foods completely blow the roof off of acceptable levels because the industry standards are unfortunately built off of minimum standards NOT a min / max range. Therefore, most dog foods for adult dogs are just repackaged puppy formulas nutrient wise. Good for puppies. Not so good for developed adults.

Generally speaking, recommended Calcium/Phosphorus levels for normal adult dog …

Calcium 0.50-1.00%
Phosphorus 0.40-0.80%

We have had very good results feeding our dachshunds Honest Kitchen brand dog food for over 15 years. Some Honest Kitchen kibble in the morning, then dinner is their human grade organic meat and grain powder reconstituted with hot water. We let it sit for an hour or so before feeding. Honest Kitchen makes several flavors with different meats, grains, vegetables, and even some fruit added in. Our dachsies are always enthusiastic about their dinner and never leave any in the bowl. It’s not inexpensive, but my wife and I think it’s worth it.